Thousand Trails

Thousand Trails is a membership campground company operating private campground resorts (referred to as "preserves" in company parlance) in the United States and Canada. As of 2010, the company claimed to have 130,000 "member families" and over 80 preserves in 22 states and the Canadian province of British Columbia.^[1] Members typically pay a one-time membership fee and annual dues to use Thousand Trails campgrounds, which tend to cater to the owners of recreational vehicles. Over the years, Thousand Trails has offered different types of memberships. Some memberships allow members to stay for more continuous days at a campground and grant access to a greater number of total campgrounds.

History

The company was founded by Milt Kuolt in 1969 with one campground in Chehalis, Washington. Kuolt would go on to found the airline Horizon Air, which he sold in 1986 to Alaska Airlines.^[2] In 1979, Kuolt made Thousand Trails a publicly traded corporation.^[3]

In 1991, Thousand Trails and another membership campground company, NACO (National American Corporation) both came under the umbrella of the newly formed USTrails, Inc. (which took the name Thousand Trails, Inc., in 1996).^[4] Concurrent with this consolidation, USTrails filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 1991.^[5]

In 1999, Thousand Trails, Inc., purchased the holding company that owned Leisure Time Resorts of America, Inc., a network of ten membership campgrounds in Washington and Oregon. ^[6]

In 2003, the company once again became privately owned when Thousand Trails, Inc., was purchased by the private equity firm of Kohlberg & Co. for $113 million.^[7]

In 2006, the company was acquired by Privileged Access Gp. Corp., a private company based in Frisco, Texas.^[8]

In 2008, Thousand Trails was acquired by Equity Lifestyle Properties.^[9]

References